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Maria Crealey, Internationale Frauen Universität, HannoverCulture, Space and Politics: a case study of the |
The 'Eine Welt - Festival der Kulturen' was celebrated from the 16th to the 27th August on the banks of the Ihme River in Linden, Hanover, a locality where 45% of the inhabitants belong to diverse migrant groups, with a predomination of the Turkish community among them. It was organised by the same voluntary cultural committee responsible for the Fährmanns Fest, an outdoor music festival held at the same venue since 1983.
Festivals, mass spectacles and cultural performances provide ideal entry points into a community's symbolic, economic, social and political life since they are organised and presented to the members of the community by the members of the community. Nevertheless these performances also provide an avenue for "outsiders" to receive the message being presented by the community involved in the celebration.
Festivals are about identity, whether individual or collective, and they are the context and the process of creating links between people in the community as well as between the community and the wider national and cultural environment (Farber 1983). In the following we will examine the extent to which the appropriation of cultural space by minority and non-mainstream groups helps in the assertion of a separate identity while at the same time establishes a dialogue across cultures and communities.
The 'Eine Welt - Festival der Kulturen' (EW) aimed at creating a multi-cultural space. Besides food from different cultures, it also provided a playground for children and set up a music stage as well as a literature tent with performances by groups and writers of different cultural backgrounds. However, during the festival it was not 'interculturality' that was most evident, but a kind of sub-culture or non-mainstream 'alternative' to commercial and EXPO culture.
EW was developed only for the year 2000, the EXPO year, with the thought that the increase in the number of visitors to Hanover would provide a larger crowd (Peter Holik, Committee Chairperson). It was also conceived with the notion that the Linden community was likely to be more 'anti-EXPO' than other Hanover residents, and therefore more likely to be drawn to a locally organised alternative to the official EXPO. There was no intention to make the EW an annual event. Despite these aims, the festival did not draw the expected numbers of visitors. After the first weekend of the Fährmanns Fest, which was well attended, the remainder of the festival, which continued for 10 days, attracted far fewer visitors. In our paper, we will give some possible explanations for the lack of success as well as provide some suggestions for making it a more successful event.
Counterspace
Turner points out that the festival is "a place which is no place and a time which is no time" (Turner 1983, 103). The EW appropriated a public park, creating a temporary, artificial space, and requiring physical borders in the form of fences in order to define it. Such artificial space can take form of a counterspace. Counterspaces represent and generate a terrain for resistance to the dominant culture precisely because they are peripheral, marginalised and in a position of subordination (Soja 1996, 59). Interviews with participants and organisers suggest that the festival functioned as a form of strategic identification with the multicultural nature of Linden, and as a self-definition of "community" to achieve certain political outcomes.
There are a number of possible motivations for the creation of an 'intercultural' festival such as this in Linden, however one of the most prominent seems to be a reaction to the EXPO 2000. The social impact of major or 'Hallmark' events such as a world EXPO is significant, and as discussed by Hall (1992), such events can "influence individual and community values" with both positive and negative effects (77). Host communities may feel "threatened by the advent of a major influx of visitors" and may also be affected by more serious problems such as resident displacement and area redevelopment (82). Counter-events can develop from this community concern, producing a positive "by-product" in the form of "a re-affirmation of community spirit and militant activism transcending social and institutional boundaries" (Hall 1992, 77). One clear example of this form of counter event was the West End Community Festival that developed as a result of a negative host community reaction to World EXPO 1988 in Brisbane, Australia. This event brought long-term positive effects for the local community, was strongly supported by residents, and remains a popular annual community celebration (Hall 1992, 77).
In 1983 the Fährmanns Fest functioned as a public cultural/ political initiative in Linden to counter the rise of Right extremism in Germany, clearly marking the event as a form of counterspace. The festival chairperson Peter Holik himself describes the organisers as well as the participants as people who "think different". Thus a counterspace emerges through the act of celebration. In regard to EW, however, Peter Holik pointed out that "we did not want to be against any other celebration, but with them". Nevertheless, the EW occurred within the space created by the Fährmanns Fest, which in the headlines of the Neue Presse (14.8.2000), was described as the "Peaceful Woodstock of Linden" (Das Friedliche Woodstock von Linden) conjuring up images of all that the Woodstock generation stood for - anti-establishment, pro-left, pro-humanitarianism and anti-war. Reporting in the same vein the main daily of Hanover, Die Hannoversche Allgemeine of 11.8.00, draws a simile with another popular Hanover cultural event, the "Marksmen's Festival" (Das Schützenfest), calling it "Schützenfest des bunten Volkes" (the festival of the colourful people). In the same paper (14.8.2000), an article critical of the organisational aspects of the FF described it as a chaotic festival of freaks - "Viele Freaks und alles nicht so geplant". The Lindenspiegel (March 2000), a paper of the Linden Community, followed Holik's interpretation and announced this festival as a follow up event to the Fährmanns Fest, neither anti- nor pro-EXPO, but providing an additional cultural space for the guests from all over the world.
While the organisers did not envisage the festival as a counterspace or counter-event, many of the participants seemed to feel that they were resisting the mainstream/ commercial values associated with EXPO by taking part in the EW. Analysis of our sources clearly pointed to mainstream cultural and commercial policy in the form of the EXPO, and also the officially advocated Maschsee Fest, Hanover's presentation of multiculturalism in transnational space (Fortier 1999), as the 'other' to the EW, further substantiating the hypothesis that EW serves as a counterspace, forging a non-mainstream identity within the context of its inherent contradictions. The staging of the event as a form of counter-EXPO, even though not officially acknowledged as such, creates a very clear division that reinforces the boundary between the perceived societal mainstream and the 'alternative' community taking part in the festival.
Thus not only physical but also imaginary and metaphorical borders are created by the festival. The title implies that it aims to break down borders between cultures, promote interculturality, and celebrate "one world" of cultures. Like the EXPO, it is thus a fictitious space where various cultures can live in harmony and continuous fruitful dialogue. The fences emphasise this characterisation of the space. While the space is artificially created, opening up for a compromised version of cultures as they do not usually exist, at the same time it transgresses the borders of the space by establishing connections to the outer world where members of these cultures are daily to be seen. Furthermore, people from other communities are free to join and add their interpretations of the festival. The counterspace thus has blurred borders while at the same time is involved in border-creation.
A heterogeneous space
For further investigation of the nature and dynamics of counterspace, we orient ourselves on Mikhail Bakhtin's understanding of popular festive culture. In Rabelais and his World, he says: "For thousands of years the people have used these festive comic images to express their criticism, their deep distrust of official truth, and their highest hopes and aspirations. Freedom was not so much an exterior right as it was the inner content of these images. It was the thousand-year-old language of fearlessness, a language with no reservations and omissions, about the world and about power" (1984, 269). This language Bakhtin speaks of constitutes both verbal and non-verbal symbols and signs, and is rich in metaphors as well as other figurative expression but above all, is capable of immediate human communion. The symbols, signs and metaphors in this festival, such as the food stalls, the objects being sold, the stories being told, and the music transmitted throughout the space, clearly pointed to the assertion of a multicultural non-mainstream identity in an appropriated counterspace, with its distinctive, potentially disparate and contradictory narratives1. The heteroglot character Bakhtin discovers in the parodic of the carnival thus challenges the monoglot, the "official truth", in our case manifested in the organisers' interpretation of multi-culturalism. This can also seen by the fact that the external or perceived purpose and the reality of the festival itself were quite different.
Festivals are a "contested arena" in which different parties dispute the assertions of identity (Karp 1991, 279). This is also true of the EW, although it is not so much a dispute, as an assertion of numerous and varied identities in the same setting, creating a multidimensional space of representation. Drawing on Barthes, Hendon distinguishes between two ways in which a festival can be read, as a readerly text and as a writerly text (1999, 17f). According to Barthes (1974, 156), a readerly text means a non-contradictory, linear narrative, while a writerly text describes a text that is "a multi-dimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of the original, blend and clash" (Barthes 1982, 146; see also Hendon 1999, 18f). In the latter, the author does not exist, the attention thus centers on the reader. Hendon (1999, 18) calls this the discursive field where classes non-represented at festivals, can enter the scene as active agents. In other words, the former text describes the pedagogy of the festival, while the latter focuses on the audience and their interpretations introducing a performative moment.2 The effort of the organisers to establish a certain identity can thus only partially be successful as the intended identity is deferred continuously by the various interpretations of the visitors. In the case of the EW, this could be seen in regard to the different associations related by the interviewees. Each of them tells his/her own narrative when asked the question why s/he had visited the festival (Interviews with festival participants, August 2000).
For some, the festival has to be read as a counter-event and counter-space to the EXPO, thus being embedded in a certain time- and space-framework. Here, the festival functions as a space of resistance. For others, the festival is viewed as an extension of the EXPO and the multi-cultural character it suggests. In this case, the festival creates a space of repetition or imitation. The festival therefore cannot be seen as a homogenous space where one story, that of resistance to the mainstream community, is told. Rather, it draws its power from various interpretations, perceptions and reasons for participation.
The heterogeneity of the space also provided an opportunity for shifting some already unclear/ undefined boundaries, for example, what constitutes community in this context of 'interculturality' or marginality? Mercer points out that "(s)uch keywords as 'community' and 'culture' are inherently ambivalent and have no fixed and formal meaning precisely because they are constantly subject to struggle and contestation in which different groups and subjects seek to hegemonise their 'definitions' over the definitions of others" (1990, 78). This was also a feature of the EW, with several groups and communities struggling to find their own space and method of representation within a predominantly German 'alternative' scene.
What emerged through the festival space was a mosaic of cultures where differences co-exist but do not necessarily create intercultural dialogue. The selection of cultural programs consisted of musical events by a variety of artists, and a showcasing of 'multicultural' cuisine, with food stalls from Turkish, Greek, Asian and African groups placed alongside stalls offering German food. This kind of multicultural event provided agency to the minority groups through participation, though not directly through organisation or planning in this particular case. The festival creates both readerly and writerly texts, as participants negotiate their own agendas within the pre-established framework set down by the organising committee. An example of this was the 'Africa Action' group, who set up a stand stating that they wished to distribute information about their organisation and activities (for which only a small donation to the organisers was requested). Instead, the group sold food and drinks to participants, and raised funds for their organisation.
The Literaturzelt was an initiative of Radio Flora, a local non-profit Radio Station engaged in providing cultural/ entertainment programs for migrant communities through multi-lingual broadcasting. This provided another approach to the issue of multiculturalism, by using art as a means of inter-cultural communication. The project received funding from the Fährmanns Fest organisers as a cultural project specifically designed for the EW. The literature tent appeared to be an attempt by the organisers to use "art as a tool for understanding and redefining social relations" (Avgikos 1996, 103). It may also have been a continuation of Radio Flora's commitment to multi-language broadcasting, or an opportunity for this community radio station to raise its profile, however for a number of reasons, it was not a very effective tool. The diversity of program selection, while including a number of writers of different cultural backgrounds, was not reflected in the wider atmosphere of the festival. To a certain extent, the program also favoured literature in German, as well as Turkish writers at the expense of smaller minority communities. The location of the tent, isolated from the busier part of the festival, served to reinforce the idea that 'art' is separated from 'real life'. This also meant that, even if genuine inter-cultural communication occurred in this forum, it was not a part of the general atmosphere, nor was it able to be incorporated into the larger framework of the festival. The Radio Flora organisers imposed their vision of multiculturalism on this project, thus limiting the possibilities for a writerly interpretation by visitors and participants. A certain ambivalence regarding the inter-cultural setting was also evident through certain children's stories that were included in the program and introduced as 'multicultural' because of their origin, rather than any consideration of their content and appropriateness for the particular festival audience.
Conclusion
There are many ways in which a festival or celebration can assist in crossing boundaries between cultures and communities. More so than in a static exhibition, the audience or participants in a festival take part in the spatial temporality of the event and become "co-creators of social meaning" (Crew and Sims 1991, 174). However, a 'one-off' event rarely has as much impact in terms of valuable community development and potential for social change as a long-term project or initiative with strong community support. Marzio (1991, 123) warns against too little contact with the communities when organizing an exhibition or an event on their culture: "Silence can be misinterpreted and can lead to fear, mistrust, and malicious, destructive rumors." The effectiveness of the EW was hampered by a lack of genuine migrant community involvement in the planning and organisational processes.
The festival was characterized by a lack of unified community spirit of resistance, and yet many participants identified with the cultural space provided by the EW, which created a sense of belonging and acceptance. In this way, the festival functioned as a counterspace to mainstream commercial culture for some participants. There were also numerous spaces created depending on the individual interpretation, allowing for a combination of readerly and writerly texts, and deconstructing the notion of a homogenous spirit of resistance. Physical borders were used to appropriate a public park, creating an artificial space, thereby allowing to a certain extent the transgression of other boundaries through the juxtaposition and interaction of various stories. Because of this lack of cohesion in the narrative, the festival was unable to achieve many of its professed aims, and genuine intercultural communication was unable to occur. Furthermore, without 'grass roots' collaboration, it seems unlikely that there can be any long term benefits for the local community resulting from this event.
If the organisers were able to address some of these issues, the festival may have been able to generate a "reaffirmation of community spirit", which could then serve as a tool for raising consciousness, with the potential for social change and greater intercultural communication.
This suggests that strategic cohesion is necessary for establishing a place where fruitful intercultural dialogue and communication can take place. Bakhtin's concept of heteroglossia, Bhabha's notion of performance as well as Barthes' model of writerly text do not seem sufficient when the aim is to create a space where contact across differences can become possible.
Notes
- 1 Doreen Massey, cited by Ann Phoenix on 2nd Aug 2000 at Colloquium, Public Space Group, ifu, Hanover.
- 2 As for 'pedagogy' and 'performance', we draw on Bhabha 1995.
Literature
Avgikos, Jan (1996): 'Group Material Timeline: Activism as a Work of Art'. In: Nina Felshin (ed.), But is it Art? The Spirit of Art as Activism, Seattle: Bay Press, 85-116.
Bakhtin, Mikhail (1984): Rabelais and His World. Translated by Helene Iswolsky. Bloomington: Indiania University Press.
Barthes, Roland (1974): S/Z, New York: Hill and Wang.
Barthes, Roland (1982): 'The Death of the Author'. In: Image, Music, Text, Harmondsworth: Flamingo.
Bhabha, Homi K. (1995): The Location of Culture. London, New York: Routledge.
Colloquium with Ann Phoenix and Gloria Wekker, 2nd Aug 2000, Public Space Group, ifu, Hanover.
Crew, Spencer R. and James E. Sims (1991): Locating Authenticity: Fragments of a Dialogue. In: Karp and Levine (eds), 159-175.
Farber, Carole (1983): 'High, Healthy and Happy: Ontario Mythology on Parade'. In: The Celebration of Society: Perspectives on Contemporary Cultural Performance, Frank E. Manning (ed.) Popular Press Ohio, 33- 42.
Fortier, Anne-Marie (1999): 'Re-Membering Places and the Performance of Belonging(s)'. In: Theory, Culture & Society Vol. 16, Nr. 2, 41-64.
Hall, Colin Michael (1992): Hallmark Tourist Events: impacts, management, and planning, London, Belhaven, New York: Halstead
Hendon, Paul (1999): 'The Festival of Britain and the voice of the people'. In: Deborah Cameron (ed.), The Millennium Dome. Critical Quarterley Vol. 41, Nr. 4, 15-27.
Karp, Ivan and Steven D. Lavine (eds) (1991): Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display, Smithsonian Institution Press.
Karp, Ivan (1991): 'Other Cultures in Museum Perspective'. In: Karp and Levine (eds), 373-385.
Marzio, Peter C. (1991): 'Minorities and Fine Arts Museums in the United States'. In: Karp and Levine (eds), 121-127.
Soja, Edward W. (1996): Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Turner, Victor (1983): 'Carnaval in Rio: Dionysian Drama in an Industrializing Society'. In: The Celebration of Society: Perspectives on Contemporary Cultural Performance, Frank E. Manning (ed.) Popular Press Ohio, 103-114.
Interviews
Peter Holik, Committee Chairperson, 21st Sept, 2000
Festival participants and food stall owners, Eine Welt - Festival der Kulturen and Fährmanns Fest, 16th to the 27th Aug 2000
Newspapers
Die Hannoversche Allgemeine
Lindenspiegel
Die Neue Presse